The state of Texas has a long and interesting history, dating from its time as a crossroads for various Native American tribes to its modern reputation as a big, brassy state. Over its history, Texas has been a part of France, Spain, Mexico, the United States, the Confederacy and even its own country. The mix of peoples and larger-than-life personalities that have emerged from Texas it make it a unique state unrivaled in bravado or notoriety.

Everyone knows everything’s bigger in Texas, and the ghost stories follow suit. Dancers are still cutting a rug at a former dance hall off Route 66. The agoraphobic wife of a Civil War veteran haunts both her former home and the dormitory that bears her name. A World War II sailors enjoys giving visitors a tour of the vessel he once served on. Spirits of the Texas Revolution still roam where they made their last stand. A seaside hotel is known for the appearance of a ghost bride. It seems spirits are never far away, even in the massive Lone Star State. ​

The Alamo

In 1691, a group of Spanish and Catholic missionaries came upon a river and native settlement on the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua. They named the place San Antonio in his honor and in 1716, a mission and presidio was approved for construction at the site. The government of New Spain wanted to ensure that the French did not expand their La Louisiane colony further west and hoped this new settlement would secure the land for Spain. The remains of that Spanish mission and presidio are now known as the Alamo.

Officially known as the Alamo Mission in San Antonio or the Mision San Antonio de Valero, the current Alamo site is actually the third Alamo site. The original mission and Presidio San Antonio de Bexar were located across the river, but when flooding became a problem, both structures were moved. When the remnants of a hurricane destroyed the second structures, the third and current Alamo was constructed at its present location in 1725.

The first structure was a two-story stone residence for priests. Adobe barracks to house native converts and a textile workshop were soon erected. The mission complex would eventually cover three acres of land and house 300 native converts. To help remain self-sustaining, the mission raised about 2,000 head of cattle, 1,300 sheep, 2000 bushels of corn and 100 bushels of bean each year. Attempts to make a permanent church building began in 1744 and, after a collapse of the original structure, were finally completed in 1758. Bell towers and a third story had been part of the original church plans, but were never completed. The mission was built to withstand attacks from Apache and Comanche raiders and walls were further erected in 1758 following the massacre at the San Saba Mission.

The mission was secularized in 1793 and was abandoned shortly after. It was eventually renamed “the Alamo” after the cottonwood trees nearby. In 1803, the building was briefly occupied by some members of the Mexican military and between 1806 and 1812, it was used both as a political prison and hospital during the Mexican War of Independence. The buildings came under Mexican control in 1812 and soldiers garrisoned there until 1835 when they were forced to surrender to Texian forces during the Texas Revolution.

The Alamo received major improvements during its Mexican occupation including a palisade, 19 cannons and a ramp to the apse of the chapel. The Texians assumed control of the Alamo with Col. James C. Neill being put in charge of the structure. He requested additional soldiers and supplies for fear the garrison could easily be starved out during a siege, but the new Texian government refused. Neill then began working to fortify the Alamo. Gen. Sam Houston finally ordered Col. James Bowie - the namesake of the Bowie knife - to take men to San Antonio to destroy the fortress and remove its artillery. However, there was not enough oxen to do so. When Neill went on furlough, William Travis and Bowie took command of the Alamo. On Feb. 23, 1836, they found themselves face to face with the Mexican army under the command of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. A 13-day siege ensued, ending in a fierce battle on March 6.

The Fall of the Alamo, or Crockett's Last Stand (1903) by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, depicts Davy Crockett wielding his rifle as a club against Mexican troops who have breached the walls of the mission. The survivors of the battle were mostly women, children and slaves.

When the smoke cleared, almost the entirety of the some 200 men defending the Alamo had been killed, including Travis, Bowie, frontiersman David Crockett, and local civilians who had come to garrison their families in Alamo such as Almaron Dickinson and Gregorio Esparza. Survivors of the battle were largely non-combatants including women, children, the elderly and slaves. Of the Texians gathered in the Alamo on the day of the battle, only 23 walked away. The Tejano survivors were allowed to return to their homes while Anglo settlers like Susanna Dickinson were sent to Gonzales as a warning and reminder.

The Alamo quickly became a rallying cry in the fight for Texian independence. It was used briefly as a fort again by Texian forces in 1836 and again in 1839 then by the Mexican Army between 1841 and 1842. The building was officially turned back over to the Catholic Church when Texas was annexed into the United States, but remained largely a ruin with grass and weeds growing over the walls. The Alamo was taken over by the Confederacy during the Civil War, putting it back in military hands until 1876 when Fort Sam Houston was established. Railroads coming through the area in 1877 started to make the Alamo a tourist destination, but many visitors felt disappointed in the state of the monument that had become larger than life in the imaginations of so many.

The Catholic Church sold the building to the state officially in 1883, and it was used as a meeting place for Masonic lodges, a grocery store warehouse, a general store, a police office, jail and a museum. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas organized in 1892 with one of their main goals to preserve the Alamo. The group argued with both the state and internally over what was to be done with the property leading heiress Clara Driscoll to undermine Texas Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt’s senate campaign. ​

The Alamo, as drawn in 1854. Weeds and grass had long grown over the buildings walls and parts of the crumbling structure had been vandalized.

Restoration began around 1910 and the National Youth Administration adn Works Progress Administration helped with some restoration projects into the 1930s. The Alamo was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 with the Alamo Plaza Historic District created in 1977. Few structural changes have taken place since 1968. The property was transferred to the Texas General Land Office in 2015, despite a suit from the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The Alamo was also designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO that year. It averages four million visitors annually.

The first reports of ghostly activity at the Alamo began only weeks after the famed battle in 1836. Mexican troops sent to destroy the structure on Santa Ana’s orders reported being chased off by six figures with blazing sabers ordering them to leave the structure alone. Some believe these were monks protecting the church, though the soldiers themselves referred to them as Devils. A second group sent to destroy the structure also reported an encounter with a spirit that chased them off. ​By the late 1800s, San Antonio residents knew well the building was said to be haunted. During the period the Alamo was used as a city jail, prisoners reported being visited in their cells by spirits. The local newspaper reported that policemen refused to patrol the building after hours because of supernatural happenings, and eventually, the jail was moved.

In more modern times, visitors have reported a wide variety of spirits haunting the Alamo.A cowboy in a black duster and hat often appears in the gardens, looking as though he has just ridden through the rain. An Alamo defender is sometimes seen in the window over the double doors in front of the church. A small blond-haired boy often appears in the gift shop and a woman is often see next to the water well, but only appears at night. A Native American man sometime is see walking through a solid wall that once was the entrance to a tunnel across the street. A Mexican officer has been seen wandering the grounds and some believe this to be Gen. Manuel Fernandez de Castrillon. Davy Crockett is sometimes seen with his coonskin cap and flintlock rifle. In March, many residents near the Alamo report being awaken by the sounds of a galloping horse. Several federal marshals have quit rather than continue patrolling the old cemetery buried underneath the Alamo’s front lawn. Visitors have also reported the sounds of screams, explosions, faint trumpet notes and disembodied voices speaking in both English and Spanish. ​

Baker Hotel

Named and founded because of the mineral springs in the area, Mineral Wells became a popular health resort during the early 1900s. One of the most famous events in the city was the 1919 spring training camp for the Chicago White Sox, who would become known as the Black Sox that year for their attempt to throw the World Series to receive a mafia payout. Not long after that, the citizens of Mineral Wells came together to create a lavish hotel to cater to the local health spa crowd establishing itself in town.

Feeling that non-residents were capitalizing more on the mineral springs in the area, a group of local citizens raised $150,000 and convinced prominent Texas hotelier Theodore Brasher Baker to construct a luxury hotel in their community. Baker was already known as the owner of grand hotels like the Baker Hotel in Dallas, the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth and the Connor Hotel in Joplin, Mo. He hired the same architect responsible for the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Ark., another community known for its mineral waters. Construction lasted from 1926 until 1929 and included the first swimming pool built at a hotel in Texas. The 450-room hotel cost $1.2 million and had two ballrooms, a beauty shop, bowling alley, and gymnasium. ​

It was also the tallest structure in Mineral Wells and one of the first skyscrapers not built in a major metro area. Though it opened mere days after the 1929 stock market crash, the hotel remained successful throughout the 1930s. Guests including Glenn Miller, Lawrence Welk, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and future President Lyndon B. Johnson. Rumors circulated that Bonnie and Clyde even spent a night at the Baker Hotel.

However, the hotel’s future seemed uneasy after its owner declared bankruptcy in 1934 and advances in health technology prompted the decline of mineral springs. World War II ended up saving the hotel, being one of the few hotels close to the Fort Wolters military base. Business again suffered when the fort closed between 1945 and 1951. The hotel served as the center for political conventions, but continued to decline. The building was shuttered in 1963 and then reopened by a group of local investors in 1965. The hotel closed its doors again in 1972. After years of decay, the Hunter Chase Private Equity firm purchased the hotel and offered to spend $54 million renovating the structure. Work to restore the structure is still being done as the new owners hope foreign investment will bring the hotel back to life.

Over the years, it has been claimed that as many as 49 spirits haunt this historic hotel with stories going back to long before the hotel was closed. The entity of Ezra Baker, who died of a heart attack here in 1967, is said to be one of the ghosts that haunts the hotel. His uncle and the original owner’s mistress is known as the Lady in White. She committed suicide in her room on the seventh floor, and maids reported finding drinking glasses with lipstick smudges on them when no one was using the room. The pantry of the kitchen is haunted by a maid who was murdered here by a hotel cook. The two were having an affair and when she threatened to tell his wife, he stabbed her to death in the pantry. Her voice is often heard telling visitors to leave the area.

One of the reasons outlaw duo Bonnie and Clyde are believed to have stayed in the hotel is because their spirits are said to haunt the Brazos Room. The lights turn on and off by themselves, music and the sounds of a party are often heard coming from the empty room and sometimes, the long-vacant room smells like chocolate. The sound of an argument between a man and a woman has also been heard in the empty hotel lobby while cigar smoke is often detected on the Mezzanine Floor above the lobby. Other spirits said to reside in the hotel include the ghost of a drunken woman who attempted to jump from the twelfth floor into the pool and a little boy in a wheelchair. Even during the times the hotel has been vacant, locals have reported windows being opened and closed as well as lights turning on and off in the building.

Catfish Plantation

Possibly named after the Waxahatchee Creek in Alabama or a corruption of a native term meaning “calf’s tail,” city of Waxahachie was founded in 1850 as the seat of the newly established Ellis County. When the railroad came through town in 1875, the city began to expand and several wealthy citizens began to move into the area. It was during this time that Victorian style homes began going up in the historic district of town, including the Victorian home now known as the Catfish Plantation Restaurant.

The former home was turned into a restaurant in 1984 after being vacant for several years. When the new owners began renovating the home, they realized that something strange was happening. In the mornings, they would find things in the home askew, such as a large, heavy urn being turned over or coffee cups stacked up high. The couple had the only keys to the house and there were no signs that someone was breaking into the property.

When the pair began seeing a glowing blue light and then a ghostly woman in a wedding gown, they began to believe something supernatural was afoot in their new business. Constructed in 1895 for the Anderson family, the spectre of death allegedly first visited the home in the 1920s when one of the Anderson daughters, Elizabeth, was strangled on her wedding day. It was believed to have been either her ex-boyfriend, an old girlfriend of her fiance, or her fiance himself. In the 1930s, a farmhand named Will died in the home, and another owner, Caroline, died here in the 1970s at the age of 80. All three presences are still felt in the house by its new owners.

Dubbed the most haunted restaurant in Texas, diners have reported encounters with the ghosts just as frequently as staffers. The spirit of eternal bride-to-be Elizabeth is often detected by the smell of her rose-scented perfume and she often materializes in front of the home’s bay window. She also likes to touch guests and sometimes follows them home. Elizabeth also once helped tend an upset baby whose parents couldn’t get it to calm down during their meal.

Will, the male ghost, tends to hang around the front porch and is known to flirt with women. Police have also been called out after reports of a strange man wandering around the premises at night. When they get out of their vehicles to confront the ghost, he disappears. Caroline is known for being short-tempered and still wants to be the mistress of the household. Cold spots are not uncommon throughout the house, and sometimes the spirits help out in the kitchen. One former cook reported having a deep fryer basket snatched out of her hands.

Fort Phantom Hill

Considered by some to be the most eerie location in all of Texas, Fort Phantom Hill in Jones County was technically never supposed to exist. In 1848, the federal government sent out Army forces to establish a safe route from Austin toward the California goldfields. The main route went through the Comancheria, the territory of the Comanche, who were known to prey on passing settlers. The army recommended a cordon of forts in the area to help protect the area.

When Gen. Persifor F. Smith and Lt. Col. John Abercrombie arrived at the Clear Fork of the Brazos in 1851, they were horrified that such a site had been chosen. A massive snowstorm killed one worker and most of the livestock upon arrival. There was neither wood for construction nor a suitable water source. He began construction anyway, only to learn later that the fort had been built in the wrong location. Fort Phantom Hill should have been built in Coleman County at the junction of Clear Fork and Elm Creek several miles south.

Because of the fort’s location, life there was rough. Water was unreliable, leaving both the men thirsty and unable to tend the vegetable garden at the fort. As a result, soldiers often came down with scurvy, fevers, dysentery, colds and pneumonia. The fort was also vulnerable to attacks from the Comanche, Lipan, Wichita, Kiowa and Kickapoo. One officer even commented “God never intended white man to occupy such a barren waste” after his time at the fort. Eventually, the fort was abandoned and, in their hatred of it, the soldiers leaving the area burned it to the ground. The remaining structures were repaired and utilized by the Butterfield Overland State in 1858 and then take over by the Texas Confederate forces as a base of operations.

By 1871, Fort Phantom Hill had become a post for Fort Griffin, located in what is now Albany. It was also used as a shipping point for buffalo hides in the 1870s and was even briefly the seat of Jones County in 1881 until it was moved to Anson. By 1892, the town around the fort had a general store, a hotel, a saloon and a blacksmith shop. Purchased by an Abilene businessman in 1928, the property was deeded to the state in 1969 for preservation. The present 38-acre site includes a powder magazine, guard house, commissary and the ruins of several other structures.

Fort Phantom Hill as it appeared in 1853.

A fort cemetery is further down the road. To combat the area’s water problems, a reservoir was built nearby to create Lake Fort Phantom Hill, which is a popular recreation area. ​​Over the years, the area spanning from the fort down to the lake that now bears its name has earned a haunted reputation. The name Fort Phantom Hill is even said to come from a ghost story. While the fort was officially known as The Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, the name Phantom Hill allegedly came from a soldier who called out that a group of natives were coming over the hill to attack. When others arrived, they didn’t see anyone and thought perhaps the young soldier had seen a ghost or ghosts coming over the hill. Some believe the fort is still haunted by natives whose sacred ground it was built on. Others believe that the fort is haunt by an innocent man who was hung on the grounds.

The spirits of two officers have been detected in the former officers’ quarters of the fort. Visitors to the fort have reported hearing footsteps or feeling as though they are being followed around. Others report a sensation of being watched. Of course, the most frightening ghost stories might be the ones about the lady who still stalks the waters of Fort Phantom Hill Lake to the south.

Known locally as the Lady of the Lake, the phantom woman has been seen numerous times over 150 years. She is often dressed in a light-colored gown or robe and is seen wandering around the lakeside or floating over the lake, often carrying a lantern or in a bluish glow. Some believe she is the wife of a pioneer woman while others believe she is a native woman. Others believe she is a bride who killed herself when her groom was drowned in the lake. She is also sometimes seen at the Fort Phantom Hill Cemetery, though her connection to it is unknown. Other phenomena around the lake include gunshots, screams, moaning, and the scents of decaying flesh, perfume and roses. Visitors have also reported to hear disembodied rapping on their vehicle windows. ​

Hotel Galvez

Born in Spain, Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid, Count of Galez began his career as a prominent Spanish military leader and serving as the colonial governor of Louisiana and Cuba. When Spain sold Louisiana back to France, he found himself the Viceroy of New Spain. Oddly enough, the city that would be named in Galvez’s honor would be created to help fight the country he represented.

Gavelston grew out of a settlement begun in 1816 by French pirate Louis-Michel Aury, designed to help Mexican revolutionaries fight against the government of New Spain. When Mexico gained its independence in 1825, it names the island and the city on it Gavelston. ​While the city’s local on the Gulf Coast proved profitable and advantageous - particularly for Confederate naval forces during the Civil War - the island also invited its fair share of disasters. Tourism was in decline around the turn of the century. A massive fire had destroyed the city’s largest hotel in 1898 and a hurricane in 1900 destroyed the attempts to rebuild the hotel. The hurricane also made some tourists fearful of returning to the area.

To counteract these disasters, local business leaders hired a St. Louis-based firm to design a massive hotel that combined the Mission Revival and Spanish Revival styles. Hotel Galvez opened in June 1911 and cost $1 million to construct - around $25.7 billion in today’s money. ​ During the Jazz Age and Big Band era, the hotel became a popular spot for both visitors and locals to dance and drink.

The likes of Frank Sinatra, Guy Lombardo, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis entertained at the hotel. Guests over the years included Howard Hughes, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. During World War II, the hotel operated as a training facility for the U.S. Coast Guard. Following war, legalized gambling in Galveston again made the hotel a hot spot for tourists, but legal gambling was ended, the hotel and much of the city at large went into decline.​

The hotel underwent a massive renovation in 1965, another in 1971 and exchanged hands several times before Galveston native and developer George P. Mitchell purchased it from Marriott, returning the hotel to its original look. The hotel managed to survive Hurricane Ike, unlike the previous hotel on this spot. The Galvez was built over the Beach hotel, Electric Pavilion and Pagoda Bathhouse, all of which were destroyed during the 1900 Hurricane. ​

Perhaps these early disasters are the reason why the Hotel Galvez is considered one of the most haunted spots in the city. The fifth floor seems to be the most haunted in the hotel, with visitors reporting most of the energy centers in the area around rooms 505 to 501. This area is the residence of the hotel’s Ghost Bride, a young woman who often reserved a room on the fifth floor to meet her sailor boyfriend whenever he was in town. She would look out the window, waiting to see his ship return. However, his ship was lost at sea. She initially refused to lose hope, but eventually realized he wouldn’t return. She hung herself in the room. A few days later, his ship was located and her fiance had to be told she had killed herself, waiting for him to return.

Other ghosts include that of a young girl bouncing a ball in a lower level, a man who hangs out in the laundry room, and a woman in a maid’s uniform. A male figure separate from the one in the laundry room has also been seen walking through the walls in guest rooms, perhaps using doors that existed prior to past renovations of the hotel. On the beach in front of the hotel is frequently spotted the figure of Sister Katherine, a ghostly nun who died trying to protect children from an incoming storm. ​

Visitors and staff have also heard children laughing in a salon bathroom, breathing in a women’s restroom and candles being blown out on their own. One women's bathroom is known for stalls that rattle, toilets that flush on their own and slamming stall doors. Ghostly orphans said to have been killed in the storm out in front of the hotel are also said to haunt the area, playing pranks on staff and moving objects around. Guests often report flickering lights in their rooms and hear doors opening and shutting at odd hours, even when no one else is staying on the same floor.

La Carafe

Incorporated in 1837, the most populous city in Texas was named for general, governor and Republic of Texas President Sam Houston. Organized by two New York-based entrepreneurs, the city grew rapidly and half of that population was enslaved by the outbreak of the Civil War. Built on the oil industry and war booms, Houston today is more known for its medical center, NASA, and its massive skyscrapers. While much of the city is modern, those looking for a piece of old Houston can travel down to Congress Street and get a glass of wine or beer in a building that pre-dates the Civil War. Opened the Kennedy Bakery in 1860, the odd shaped structure is believed to be the oldest continuously operated commercial property in the city as well as the oldest structure in the city still in its original location. The building's story begins with Irish immigrant John Kennedy, who brought his young wife and family to Houston in the 1830s.

Kennedy opened his first bakery on this very spot in 1847 and his store was known to be a draw to both early settlers and local natives, who came to admire his imported wares. When the original bakery was built, the area around Congress Street was Houston’s commercial center. The bakery burned and was rebuilt into the current structure in 1860. In addition to baked goods, the Kennedy’s began selling various products such as calico, spices, and cotton produced on a farm they had acquired outside of Houston. During the Civil War, the new bakery produced hardtack for Confederate soldiers and though the contract didn’t make the Kennedy’s wealthy it did help them sustain the family through the Reconstruction Period. The building became a pharmacy in 1873 and operated as such until 1932.​

At that point, it became a hair salon. In the 1950s, the building was reopened as La Carafe, a dive bar. Eventually, the building became both a dive bar and a wine bar. La Carafe has changed hands a few times since then, but the business has remained largely the same. The business is cash only because of its antique cash register and doesn’t serve food. However, there are plenty of pieces of Texas history to gawk at while sipping a drink.

Being one of Houston’s oldest buildings, it might not come as a surprise that La Carafe is haunted. The bar area is said to be haunted by a former bartender, who is known to knock over glasses. The ghost first appeared not long after he died to spook his new replacement. Footsteps have been heard walking around the second floor, which is empty. Others have reported being touched or encountering a spirit in the bar’s restrooms. A ghost is also said to push women he finds beautiful down the stairs. ​

Littlefield House

Known for keeping things weird, Austin was originally settled in the 1830s as Waterloo but was renamed to honor Stephen F. Austin, largely considered the “Father of Texas.” A center of business and technology, the city is also the “Live Music Capital of the World” for its many performance venues. The city is also home to the University of Texas at Austin, and on the campus of this school is a mansion that once housed a famed local cattle baron and Civil War veteran.

George Littlefield came to Texas at the age of 12 when his parents emigrated to Gonzales County. When the Civil War broke out, Littlefield enlisted with the Texas Cavalry and was discharged as a major after being injured in Tennessee in 1863. It would be four years before he could again walk without the aid of crutches. Following the war, Littlefield found himself on the brink of bankruptcy until he began speculating on the cattle market. Using proceeds from the cattle industry, he opened a dry goods store in Gonzales and soon began buying up ranches throughout Texas. He and his wife Alice moved to Austin in 1883 where he helped organize the American National Bank, owned the Driskill Hotel and installed the first electric lighting system in a hotel in the city.

In 1893, Littlefield built a new home for himself and his wife. While her husband worked, Alice used the home to help organize a local children’s home and for her charitable work through the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She and her husband also became involved in the University of Texas, and a female dormitory still bears Alice’s name. The pair had no children, and when Alice died in 1935, she bequeathed the couple’s lavish mansion to the University of Texas at Austin. Today, the building serves as office space. Since the home was opened up to the university, many of those who have worked in the building claim that Alice Littlefield never really left the mansion she and her husband built. As time went on, rumors about how Alice lived her last days began to come out of the woodwork along with ghostly tales.

It is believed that Alice suffered from agoraphobia, especially during the last years of her life. She developed what was then called a “nervous condition” fearing that she would be kidnapped or murdered and was prone to fits of hysteria. Her husband refused to take her to a sanitarium, instead hiring three nurses to care for her. When her husband died, her condition improved slightly because she no longer feared he was in danger. However, some maintain that Alice’s nervous condition was fabricated and that her husband was the reason she was seldom seen. Some claimed he locked her in the attic, either out of cruelty or fear that she would be kidnapped and ransomed. ​

Since her death, Alice’s ghost has been seen roaming the attic, peering out of the house’s windows and sometimes playing the old piano on the first floor. While both of Alice and George’s children died in infancy, the pair were known to be the favorite aunt and uncle of all their nieces and nephews. Children who come to visit the Littlefield House also seem to be special favorites of Alice’s as she appears to them more often than others. One employee said that she felt a ghostly hug around her when she was having a bad day at work. Alice is also known to move items around the house, putting them back where she thinks they belong. Of course, Alice isn't just spied at her former home.

The Littlefield Dorm is also known as a hotspot for Alice’s spirit. One of the first female dorms on campus, residents of the hall where known as the Littlefield Ladies. Alice seems to still take care of college students and is described by those who have encountered her as a helpful, friendly ghost. Dorm residents report her as a protective, comforting force and some even nicknamed her “Aunt Alice” to honor her for the years of care she has put into helping students.

Marfa Lights

Located in the high desert of West Texas’ Trans-Pecos region, Marfa is settled between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park. Founded as a water stop in the 1880s, the city is believed to have been named either for a character in a Jules Verne novel or the wife of a railroad executive. Today, the city is known as a home for Minimalist art and the strange, otherworldly lights that appear out on U.S. Route 67/90 near Mitchell Flat. In fact, the lights have become such a common site the city even built a viewing center for them.

The earliest accounts of the lights date back to the 1880s. The first recorded sighting was by cowhand Robert Reed Ellison in 1883 who reported a strange light when he was driving cattle through the Paisano Pass. He asked local residents if there was an Apache camp nearby, but they reported that no one had ever investigated. Ellison went out to the area and discovered no ash, wood or any traces of a campfire in the area where the lights originated.

Early settlers Joe and Sally Humprheys also reported seeing strange lights in the area in 1885. It soon became commonplace to hear tales of cowhands trying to investigate the strange lights, only to find no solution. ​Several observers during World War I reported the lights to authorities, fearing they were being used to guide an enemy invasion. Pilots training at the nearby Midland Army Airfield during World War Ii also reported the lights, but could find no source from them. Theories abounded about car headlights, the setting sun, and even swamp gas, though some locals maintained the lights were sentient. One woman recalled how the lights guided her family to shelter in a cave during a blizzard.

The first newspaper account of the lights were published in the San Angelo Times in 1945, and soon, sightings increased. Between 1945 and 2008, at least 34 verified sightings of the lights were reported. Monitoring stations were put in place in 2003 to see if there could be a scientific explanation for the lights. Many believe the lights are just cars passing through on the highway while others believe the light was part of undercover aircraft or experiments being conducted at the nearby military air base.

Visitors have reported the lights sometimes change color and size, often being yellow-orange but sometimes turning green, blue or read. Sometimes the lights are said to split, merge and move around in a jarring fashion.While some look for a scientific explanation, others maintain a supernatural one. The lights have been suggested to be everything from UFOs to the ghosts of conquistadors combing the region for gold to the spirits of Apaches to those of German prisoners of war who were imprisoned at the nearby airbase. One of the most interesting theories is that the lights are neon or phosphorescent jackrabbits running across the desert, the victims of parasitic glow worms. ​

Miss Molly's Hotel

Founded as one of a series of forts to protect American settlers coming to Texas during the Mexican-American War, Fort Worth has grown to be one of the most populous cities in both Texas and the country. The arrival of the railroads in 1876 turned Fort Worth into an important livestock center. When the Fort Worth Union Stockyards opened in 1890, they covered 206 acres. Packing houses, stockyards, and other cattle industry business sprang up in the area and by 1907, a million cattle per year were being shipped out of Fort Worth each year. ​

Hotels, saloons and brothels soon sprung up in the stockyards to cater to the hundreds of cowboys, cattle barons and others who were brought into town by the industry. On Exchange Street in the midst of what is know the Fort Worth Stockyard Historic District is Miss Molly’s, a bed and breakfast that began life around 1910 as a respectable boarding house known as the Palace.

When Prohibition arrived in Texas, the building changed hands and was opened as The Oasis, a popular stockyard speakeasy. It operated as a bar until the 1940s, when it became a bordello. Officially the Gayatte Hotel, cowboys and others who came to the hotel were looking more for women of the night than for a place to bunk down. However, the authorities began cracking down on prostitution, and frequent busts at the hotel led to it closing down. The building went into a decline before it was purchased and renovated, the Star Cafe operating in the bottom and Miss Molly's offering eight themed rooms at the top. ​

Those who come to stay in the hotel might be surprised to see an open Bible in their room. The hotel’s owner will tell them she keeps an open Bible in each room to keep harmful spirits at bay and let the ghosts know who's boss. In addition to being a former speakeasy and brothel, the hotel is also a haunted former speakeasy and brothel. Many consider the structure to be the most haunted building in all of Fort Worth, and plenty of employees and guests would agree.

The ghost of a young girl is often seen in the private rooms of the owners and is believed to have been a tenant who died in the structure. A ghostly woman occupied one room and is often accompanied by a strong scent of perfume. A blond man with a penchant for the same sex is also known to appear before gentlemen he finds attractive. Visitors have smelled perfume and coins have appeared to tip staffers who clean up the hotel. Visitors and staff have also reported items being moved around frequently, toilets flushing themselves, doors locking and unlocking and lights turning on and off on their own. During the holiday season, the ghosts are known to jingle decorations in the hotel. The hotel has even become a regular location for Texas Christian University’s paranormal investigative groups to conduct research.

The Natatorium

Derived from the Spanish word for yellow, the city of Amarillo is the largest in the Texas Panhandle region and has been known for production of helium, nuclear weapons and hybrid aircraft. Started as a series of ranches in the late 1800s, the city grew as railroads and then roadways like Route 66 and Interstate 40 passed through it. The remnants of Route 66 in Amarillo are now part of Sixth Street and on that street is an antique shop referred to as the Nat, a nickname that dates back to when the building served as an indoor swimming pool.

Natatorium is a Latin word for an indoor pool, and the Amarillo Natatorium opened in July 1922 as a public pool - for whites at least. It was originally open air, but the popularity of swimming for locals prompted the builders to enclose it the following year so it could be used no matter the season. Despite its early popularity, the community swimming pool only lasted four years.

It was purchased by J.D. Tucker, who covered the swimming pool with maple wood to turn it into a popular ballroom. He added a second story, which housed illegal gaming rooms in the back. The structure again changed hands in the 1930s and was renamed The Nat Dine and Dance Palace. The new owner, Harry Badger, added a Spanish castle motif to the structure as well as an entrance designed to catch the eyes of those driving by on Route 66. He also added a cafe to the building. Big Band stars such as Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, the Dorsey Brothers and Harry James all performed here during this period. Word War II brought a new owner and a new clientele. Servicemen from Amarillo Air Force Base often came here to dance with the local girls.

While music tastes change in the 1950s, the Nat was still bringing in crowds. This time, popular performers included Elvis, Little Richard, and native Texans Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly. However, the changing times and the advent of the Interstate put the ballroom out of business. By the 1960s, it was no longer open for public events but was used mainly as a concert and community event hall.

In the 1990s, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and listed as a Route 66 landmark. As a result, renovation money helped turn the building around. A bookshop operates in the former Nat Cafe and the second floor operates as an antique mall. The old ballroom still occasionally hosts big name bands like the Dixie Chicks. It was when the Nat was reopened to the public during this period that many visitors began feeling cold spots or sensing that they weren't alone in the building. It seemed figures from the past where still there.

Entities from the old dance hall days are still heard and seen throughout the building. A ghostly couple sometimes appears on the dance floor during the times when live music is performed. A paranormal investigation picked up a recording of a drum solo and a woman singing. The cameras then began turning off on their own. An advertisement on the wall touting Monty McGee and His Orchestra cannot be painted over, showing up each time anyone tries to cover it. ​

Gamblers from the illegal gambling hall on the second floor are also still here. The most common apparition here is a woman in a 1930s era dress with a wine stain on the front. She seems to be walking around, still enjoying herself. Visitors have felt cold spots here and furniture is often rearranged by unseen forces. No matter what is keeping the spirits here at the Nat, all of those who haunt the former dance hall seem to still be having a good time.

Presidio La Bahia

While most people remember the Alamo, there might be only a few outside of Texas who remember Goliad. This area began not as a Spanish settlement but a French one when Robert de La Salle organized a colony here in 1685. When Spain realized the French were building forts in their territory, the order was handed down to find and destroy the French fort built on Spanish land. However, when the Spanish finally located La Salle's Fort Saint Louis several years later, they were too late.

Fort Saint Louis had already been destroyed by the Karankawa tribe and most of its colonists killed. The Spanish forces destroyed what was left of the fort, including the canons left behind, and then forgot about the area for another forty or so years. In the early 1700s, Spain began building forts or presidios throughout Texas to help protect missionaries and supply routes. At the same time Spain was building San Antonio and the Alamo, another presidio was established on the former site of Fort Saint Louis in 1721. The Mission Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga was established nearby the presidio in 1722 in the hopes that friars could convert the Coc, Karankawa and Cujane.

A well overlooking the Presidio La Bahia, one of the two major locations in the Battle of Goliad.

After the friars complained of the location, the mission and the presidio were both moved 26 miles to the Guadalupe River banks, where it would remain for the next 23 years. Both were now operating under the name Presidio La Bahia. In 1747, it was again recommended to move the presidio and mission to encourage a civilian settlement in the area. While the new presidio opened in 1749, not enough civilians could be found willing to settle in this relatively wild area of Texas.

This third and final presidio, officially known as Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía, is the version still in existence today. ​Eventually, the presidio grew with a stone house for its commanders, 40 wood homes for the families of garrisoned soldiers, a chapel, and several cannons to help protect supply trains. When the Seven Years War ended, Spain had acquired much of France’s territory in Louisiana. While several presidios were closed, La Bahia was kept open and became the heart of trade and military routes between Bexar and Nacogdoches. The settlement of Goliad grew around the presidio beginning in the late 1700s and had one of only two schools in Texas by 1805.

In 1810, the Mexican War of Independence began and much of the garrison was ordered to leave La Bahia to help troops in other parts of Texas. An 1812, revolutionary Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara arrived with his forces from the U.S. and attempted to take the fort. They were unsuccessful in their initial attack, but eventually captured the fort. The Spanish forces attempted to siege them for four months before abandoning the area and returning to San Antonio. Rebels remained in control of the fort until mid-1813 when the royalists retook it. However, the fort would return to Mexican hands soon enough.

Following the Adams-OnisTreaty of 1821, members of the Long Expedition captured La Bahia for four days. By the end of that year, Mexico had gained control of Texas and the fort. Things would be peaceful for about another decade until the fight for Texas independence came. In 1835, La Bahia and the Alamo were the two major garrisons of Mexican forces in Texas. Within days of the revolution beginning in October, the Texian militia marched on Goliad to capture Mexican Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos. He had already departed, but the Texians continued onward, their numbers growing as they did so. The men took the fort along with food, clothing, blankets and 300 rifles - most of which were unusable. They also acquired the forts cannons.

While only one Texian militia member and one Mexican soldier would lose their lives in the Battle of Goliad, darker days were coming to the Presidio. Col. James Fannin was put in charge of La Bahia and renamed it Fort Defiance. In 1836, Fannin sent out 320 men, four cannon and supply wagons to travel 90 miles to the Alamo, which was under siege by Mexican Gen. Santa Ana. Fannin decided to abort the mission after the freezing nights caused the soldiers to sicken and the oxen to wander off. When the Alamo fell, Gen. Sam Houston ordered Fannin and his men to abandon La Bahia and fall back to the nearby city of Victoria. ​​

On Coleto Creek, the defenders of Goliad found themselves facing the Mexican forces of Santa Ana after their lackluster retreat from La Bahia allowed the Mexicans to catch up to them. Outnumbered and outgunned, Fannin agreed to a surrender though he hadn’t learned that Santa Ana only believed in unconditional surrender. When terms couldn’t be reached, Santa Ana decided to return Fannin and his men to Goliad as prisoners of war. The Texian forces believed they would be released into U.S. custody eventually. When they arrived, however, they learned that under Mexican law foreigners taken in combat were considered pirates and would be executed.

On Palm Sunday 1836, somewhere between 425 and 435 Texians were shot outside La Bahia as what would become known as the Goliad Massacre. Survivors were then clubbed or knifed to death. Of the 40 men too wounded to walk outside, 39 were killed inside the fort itself. Fannin was the last to be executed, blindfolded and tied to a chair in front of the La Bahia chapel. The bodies of the Texians were burned, save for 28 men who feigned death and managed to escape. Some 20 men also escaped through the help of Francita Alavez, known as the Angel of Goliad. An additional 75 soldiers were marched to Matamoros, given a white armband so that Mexican soldiers would know not to shoot at them as they had been spared by Santa Ana.

Col. James W. Fannin was born in Georgia and attended West Point

Goliad rubbed salt in the wound of the Alamo and fueled the Runaway Scrape that would lead to Santa Ana’s defeat. Soon after the conflict ended, La Bahia was abandoned. It was briefly used as a chapel in the 1850s by Judge Pryor Lea and then returned to the Catholic Church in 1853, but it remained a crumbling ruin. Restoration didn’t begin until 1963 when efforts to document the sites of the Texas Revolution prompted its renovation. By 1967, much of the structure had been returned to how it would have looked in 1836. Today, the Chapel of Our Lady of Loreto is one of the oldest extant churches in the U.S. The compound walls, commanding officers’ quarters, arsenal, guard house, workshops and bastions have also been restored.

Much like the Alamo, the violence visited upon the Presidio La Bahia seems to have left something lingering in the historic structure. In the quadrangle where much of the massacre at Goliad occurred, visitors have long reported seeing soldiers and hearing their anguished cries. Others have felt pains in their legs and other body parts where Fannin and others who died here were known to have been wounded. Cannon fire and the sounds of footsteps patrolling the grounds have also been heard. ​

However, the ghosts of the massacre aren’t the only ones still seen in La Bahia. Visitors have heard the sounds of infants crying in the chapel as well as the sounds of a women’s choir. A short friar sometimes wanders around the chapel while a woman in white seems to search among the unmarked graves outside the chapel. In the museum, visitors have heard a woman’s singing voice, sometimes accompanied by a ghostly organ. Visitors leaving the area late at night have reported seeing strange lights coming from the nearby river. Ghosts are known to bang on the walls and doors at night, and at least one former priest refused to sleep in a certain room because it was haunted. ​

USS Lexington

Founded in 1839 as a trading post and ranch, Corpus Christi was renamed and incorporated in 1852 by future president Zachary Taylor. During 1862, the city was the site of a major Civil War naval battle. A major port was opened in 1926 and a naval station was opened here in 1941. With its naval history, Corpus Christi seemed the perfect place for the retired USS Lexington to open up as a museum off the coast of the city in 1992.

Nicknamed “The Blue Ghost,” The USS Lexington (CV-16) is an Essex-class aircraft carrier built for the Navy in World War II. It was named for both the Battle of Lexington and the USS Lexington (CV-2), which had been lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea - though it was originally to be named the Cabot. It is also the fifth US Navy ship to honor the Battle of Lexington. Laid down in Massachusetts in 1941, the ship was officially launched in 1942 and spent much of World War II patrolling the Pacific. While there, it earned the nickname “The Blue Ghost” because the Japanese often referred to it as a ghost for its ability to reappear even after Japanese forces thought it had sunk.

The ship participated in the Kwajalein raid, Battle of the Philippine Sea, and Battle of Leyte Gulf. Decommissioned in 1947, it entered the National Defense Reserve Fleet. It was recommissioned in 1955 and assigned to port in San Diego where it operated for a year before being sent off the coast of China. The Lexington served in the 1958 Taiwan Strait crisis and patrolled the Far East in the 1960s before being turned into a training carrier in 1969.

The Lexington also made appearances in films including the feature movie Midway, the TV miniseries War and Remembrance, and the film Pearl Harbor. When it was finally decommissioned in 1991, the ship was donated for use as a museum. The World War II-era gun battery is used to restore salvaged pieces guns and a MEGAtheater has been added to help with interpretation. The carrier earned several notable firsts during its history including the first carrier to have women stationed aboard as members in 1980 and the first carrier to establish a sea-going high school in 1967. It was also the first foreign heavy fleet carrier to enter Tokyo Bay and the first carrier to deploy air-to-surface missiles.

This floating museum isn’t a time capsule for U.S. naval history. The Lady Lex is also known for more supernatural activity and is considered by some to be known as the most haunted ships in the U.S. One of the most commonly seen spirits is that of Charly, a World War II era seaman with a white uniform and blue eyes who sometimes offers tours to those coming aboard the ship. Visitors often compliment the tour guide only to learn a ghost was guiding them around the ship.

In fact, Charly is believed to be one of the nine sailors who died on Halloween 1944 after a kamikaze attack on the ship off the coast of the Philippines. More than 200 visitors have reportedly encountered Charly and most describe him as a polite young man. A dark-haired man wearing dungarees is also seen below deck as is a man in a Japanese pilot uniform and a U.S. sailor in the halls. Visitors and staffers have also reported hearing the sounds of voices, screaming, crying and weapons being fired. When a storm hit the area, an employee reported hearing screams and saw several young men running across the deck area between lightning flashes. The engine room and switch room are some of the more haunted rooms. Both have been known to give visitors a sense of discomfort or unease. The engine room was the hardest hit when the Japanese plane hit the ship in 1944.

White's Sanitarium

Originally Choctaw land after the tribe was forced west from their home in Mississippi, ranchers came to this area of Texas in the 1860s to begin cattle ranching. Wichita Falls grew up from this ranches and was formally incorporated in 1872. By the 1920s, Wichita Falls was a thriving city and it was here that Dr. Frank S. White arrived from the Austin State Hospital where he oversaw the State Lunatic Asylum. After seeing the issues that arose at the hospital at Austin, White’s idea was a more modern sanitarium to help. ​

Constructed in 1925, White’s Sanatorium actually began life as a private clinic for drug addicts and alcohols. Ahead of his time, White considered these ailments to be part mental. It was the height of the Jazz Age and many of his patients were the sons and daughters of those who had become rich following the oil boom in the Wichita Falls era. White soon found that many of his patients had deeper, underlying mental issues that contributed to their addiction.

However, White and his modern outlook only existed for about five years before the good doctor fell ill and his sanitarium passed into different hands. The structure was used as a tuberculosis hospital in the 1930s and then as a regular clinic after that. When a flood struck in the 1950s, the facility was so gutted that its owners decided not to repair it. The building then sat abandoned. An attempt was made to turn the building into an apartment complex, but that too fell through. The current owners purchased the structure and renovated it into a three-bedroom home. Some maintain the structure was an insane asylum and still call the facility “the old insane asylum” despite the fact it was never a facility for the mentally ill. The most likely reason for this is that Dr. White's Sanitarium has been confused with the Wichita Falls State Hospital, a hospital for the mentally ill opened in 1922 and located seven miles outside the city. That facility closed in the 1960s.

Many of those who explored the former sanitarium during its abandoned days reported supernatural occurrences. The most common was a lady in white walking around the grounds and looking out the windows. Visitors reported seeing the glowing ends of cigarette butts in empty rooms, apparitions in hospital gowns and the voices of children.

During a period when water and electricity were cut off to the building, many urban explorers reportedly heard water dripping and saw lights moving through the structure. ​​Now that the structure is occupied again, relatives of the owners admit there might be something to the haunted rumors. The voice and laugh of a young woman estimated to be in her mid-twenties is sometimes heard through the house. The voices of children laughing stopped after the owners provided Christmas presents, though objects in the house still go missing from time to time.